The stats on women in entrepreneurship can be depressing. The Kauffman Foundation has done a lot of research on this topic. But simply put, women aren’t starting many high tech companies and they aren’t raising much venture capital. A recent Chicago Tribune article reiterated all this, despite any “lip service” to the contrary.
But a bright spot is emerging when it comes to women entrepreneurs funding their businesses. And it’s coming from crowdfunding. An inspiring article hit The Wall Street Journal online last week, citing studies that show women are actually more successful than men at raising money online. On Kickstarter, roughly two-thirds of women-led technology ventures reached their fundraising goals while 30 percent of their male competitors reached theirs. Overall, the study claims women are 13 percent more likely than men to meet their Kickstarter goals.
There’s good news on the other side of the online funding equation too. According to the article, women account for nearly half of Kickstarter investors, far outweighing the reported 4 percent of women senior investing partners in the U.S. The dismal female investor numbers seem to be stagnant, as year after year the Forbes Midas List consistently notes four to five women on its list of the top 100 venture investors.
So, what gives? What can we learn from crowdfunding and its female success? I’d love to hear your thoughts on why women are raising money like crazy online, but still struggle out of cyberspace. Weigh in using #TopOfMind.
How an Executive Order on Immigration Could Help Startups
The Wall Street Journal has reported that the changes on Immigration Reform are to be announced after Labor Day in an executive order. So far there are two potential tweaks to the green card granting process. An executive order could remove the dependents of green card holders, which could result in 300,000 more worker green cards. Another proposal would recycle unused green cards over the years and end up resulting in 200,000 more green cards. Read about Vishal Sankhla, who started Viralheat that has attracted $4.5 in venture capital funding. Sankhla has been living in the U.S. for 13 years and just now got his green card this year.
The Myth of the Successful One-Person Business
Want to be a free-lance one-person shop and build something? Well, you won’t be able to make a lot of money doing this. You might be able to make a living, but that is it. Here is why. There are only so many hours in a week. You have to be all people (administrative, your actual job, salesperson, marketing, etc.). You must find someone in order to truly grow your company because you cannot do it alone.
Kickstarter Closes the ‘Funding Gap’ for Women
Women represent less than 8% of chief executives at venture-backed firms. Women also occupy just 17% of board seats and Fortune 500 companies as well as own 30% of all companies The early data on crowdfunding is suggesting that women are outperforming men on raising money on this platform. Nearly two-thirds of women-led tech ventures reached their fundraising goals. These companies accounted for only 10% of technology projects. The numbers show that women are 13% more likely than men to meet their goals for Kickstarter.
Beyond Millennials: How to Reach Generation Z
Marketers are starting to think about how to hone in on Generation Z. This generation represents those born in 1995 or later and make up 25.9% of the US population. Generation Z contributes $44 billion to the US economy as well. This generation is growing up with social media. Approximately 72% of high-schoolers want to run their own business one day and 76% want to use their hobbies in what they will one day do.
The Most Productive People Know Who to Ignore
How do you deal with allotting your time properly? On top of meeting people for work, responding to an overflow of inboxes, exercising and last but not least making time for family and friends. We are told to prioritize. However, after we prioritize, we act like everything we prioritized merits our attention and we decide to get to the lesser items later. But later doesn’t really ever happen. We can’t possibly meet all of the demands. Therefore, we must use triage. “Triage for the rest of us entails not just focusing on the items that are most important and deferring those that are less important until “later,” but actively ignoring the vast number of items whose importance falls below a certain threshold.”